Buck's Baby (By Accident)

Aquisition

Buck had just gotten off a long 24-hour shift and was finally relaxing on his couch, beer in hand and TV set to a station that showed crappy reality shows. The shift had been taxing, with the alarm going off all night for various medical calls and then a five-alarm fire that had taken a few hours to get under control. Bobby's dinner had cheered him up a little and had gotten him through the drive home, but he'd been relieved to finally pull up in the parking lot of his apartment building. Buck had the next 3 days off and planned to spend those days doing as little as possible. He'd organised to meet Eddie and Christopher at the zoo the next day, but the meeting had been organised for late enough in the afternoon that he could sleep in. Hen was going on a brief holiday with Karen for their anniversary and Chimney had made it clear that he and Maddie were not to be disturbed as they were trying for a baby and apparently Maddie was in her fertile time. Buck screwed up his nose as he remembered how thrilled his brother-in-law had seemed at the idea of a weekend of sex with his sister. It was not something he needed to think of right now.

Buck sighed contentedly as he let his body relax, sipping on his beer. He stretched his legs out, so they were propped up on the coffee table. One of the bonuses of being single and living alone was being able to put one's feet up on one's furniture without disapproving looks from partners or parents.

A knock on the door jerked Buck from his daydreams.

"Who the hell is calling at this time of night" he muttered to himself as he dragged his body off the couch, wincing as his sore muscles complained about the movement.

Buck walked to the door, dragging his feet a little with reluctance to entertain at this hour. Peeking through the peephole in his door his confusion mounted as he looked into an empty corridor. Frowning, he opened the door to the deserted hallway and looked around, trying to figure out if it was just one of the neighbourhood kids messing around. He was just about to shut the door in a huff when a small noise alerted him to an object on the ground.

"What the fuck-"

Buck stared down in utter confusion at the baby's car seat that had been placed in front of his door. Inside the car seat was a tiny bundle that was beginning to stir, eyes opening and blinking as it woke up from the slumber it had been in moments earlier.

With an open mouth, Buck stepped out into the corridor and looked around frantically for an adult or anyone who might have left this... baby?

"Hello?" he called out, "Is anyone there? Is this your baby?".

He waited a moment and took a deep breath when he was met with complete silence. He walked over to the car seat and crouched down, taking inventory of what was in front of him. Number one, a baby. That much was obvious. But why? And who? Buck noticed a slip of paper sticking out beside the baby. Steeling himself for what was to come, Buck picked up the car seat and bought it into his apartment, setting it down on the island in his kitchen. He pulled out the note and unfolded it, his blood running cold when he read what it said.

Dear Buck,

Time to face the consequences of your actions.

T.K.

Buck felt as though all the breath had been knocked into him. His palms were suddenly sweaty and a ball of lead had settled in the pit of his stomach. The note also included a folded-up birth certificate and there was his name under "Father". Much to his annoyance, Taylor had whited out all of the baby's details, including name and sex. The woman wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"What the hell do I do?" he thought to himself as he began to pace back and forth in his kitchen. It didn't take a genius to figure out who T.K. was. Buck had barely had a thing to do since he and Taylor split up. Doing a quick bit of math in his head (which he was extremely good at now since the lightening strike) he worked out that it had been around 11 months since he last slept with Taylor. From memory they'd used protection, but mistakes happened. The evidence of which was currently lying in a car seat on his kitchen island.